A Harvard study finds that the thousands of dams humans have built over the last couple centuries have locked up so much water it's actually affected Earth's poles! We'll try to explain. Plus: starting today in Michigan City, Indiana, it’s the Singing Sands Sand Sculpting Festival.

Water storage in dams has caused minute shifts in Earth’s poles (Harvard's Advancing Earth and Space Sciences)

The Singing Sands Sand Sculpting Festival

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Today in 1972, a break-in at the Watergate hotel that kicked off a huge political scandal... and also, somehow, gave a gelatin dessert the name "Watergate salad." Plus: in 2022, the National Portrait Gallery in Washington hosted an exhibit called “Watergate: Portraiture and Intrigue.”

Jell-O Journalism: Investigating the Origins of Watergate Salad (Mental Floss)

Watergate: Portraiture and Intrigue (National Portrait Gallery)

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There's a new musical work that is, maybe, kind of, sort of from a composer who’s been gone three years. Plus: rice farmers in Gyoda, Japan turn their paddies into large-scale works of art.

Musical Composer’s Brain Matter Is Still Making Music Three Years After His Death (My Modern Met)

Tanjiro Emerges in the Fields as Gyoda Unveils 2025 Rice Paddy Art (Spoon + Tamago)

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Today in 1923, the birthday of Cordell Jackson, a guitarist who rocked out exactly the way she wanted to for over half a century. Plus: today in 2023, a Florida woman apparently took a fire truck out for a ride.

Jackson, Cordell (Women In Rock Project)

Woman accused of impersonating firefighter after stealing firetruck, Florida cops say (Miami Herald)

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A decade before Mariner 4 got to Mars (on this day in 1965), a company famous for its advertising jokingly offered its customers a chance to go to the Red Planet - and a very serious customer tried to get them to follow through. Plus: a design studio in France builds a walk-through installation out of nearly 800 old baguettes.

Did Burma-Shave Offer to Send a Contest Winner to Mars? (Snopes)

780 leftover baguettes turn into public pavilion by MERO studios in montpellier (designboom)

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Today in 1983, Quiet Riot released its massive hit single "Cum On Feel The Noize," though they kind of tried to tank the recording session at the time. Plus: for 7/11, a story about a 7/11 with a tree in the middle of the store.

Cum On Feel The Noize by Quiet Riot (Songfacts)

This 7-11 in Monterrey Mexico has a tree growing through it. (lostfoundartny via Instagram)

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Today in 1890, Wyoming became the 44th state in the Union. Its license plates feature a silhouette of a person, with cowboy hat in hand, riding a bucking horse. The story of which horse and which rider inspired that silhouette is a bit of a bumpy ride. Plus: starting tomorrow, it’s the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix.

Wyoming’s Long-lived Bucking Horse (Wyoming History)

Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix

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For Cow Appreciation Day, a look at the time in 2006 that news reports made it sound like scientists had proven that cows had regional accents like people do, only the story was a little more complicated than that. Plus: Solstice 2.0 is a kinetic clock that changes shape as the day goes on.

Cows also 'have regional accents' (BBC)

It's always silly season in the (BBC) science section (Language Log)

Mesmerizing Kinetic Clock Expands and Contracts With the Passage of Time (My Modern Met)

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